I can accept that there are vehicles that I missed out on my own accord, such as events I chose not to grind during, limited time sales I chose not to buy, or ones like the R2Y2 variants, seeing as I was made well aware they were going to be limited time. They subtly told us the R2Y2’s were going to go years ago now, and confirmed it a year in advance practically before doing it. I can even understand vehicles that are from very old events such as the Surblinde, Object 279, or IS-7. They’re made available once a year usually, through holiday Silver Lion crates. And for the E-100, it was always exclusive and elusive, tied to tournaments.
So why am I so adamant about the Tiger II 10.5cm, Panther II, and Flakpanzer 341? Because it feels like it was both completely outside of my control, while also being a set of vehicles readily available in nearly every match I play. Don’t want to fight these vehicles? Play Germany. But then guess what? You see them on your team constantly, and feel the worst kind of FOMO guilt about it. I started playing the game like half a year after their removal. Its practically trivial that they can’t even put them into Silver Lion crates for holidays, or make them available on the anniversary like the Maus, a vehicle that was removed at the same time and also has issues with its historical accuracy, just like the other 3 vehicles.
It really grinds my gears. Like, can we talk about the Ho-Ri? There are two variants of the frickin’ thing in the game! Its completely ahistorical, don’t think there were even extensive wooden mockups of it, only blueprints. That thing is an absolute nuisance to face. But guess what, I don’t get that mad about it because if I really wanted to, I could just start playing Japan and research it or buy the prototype version. The same can’t be said for any of the lost German vehicles.
And probably the biggest middle-finger to the playerbase about these vehicles removal is that, on top of all this, you can’t even test them in the hangar with the protection analysis. SERIOUSLY? The only way to test these vehicles’ armor is to wishlist them in game when you spot them, then view them from your wishlist. You can’t even use shot analysis with their ammunition to see where they can penetrate the armor of other vehicles. And in the case of the Tiger II 10.5cm and Coelian, they have EXCLUSIVE ammunition that no other tank does!
Gaijin could’ve easily made money this anniversary by adding them back, making it so that you could only research one at a time, and any left with research points that isn’t being actively researched will disappear when the anniversary ends, and you’d have to wait until they come back again (if ever). The FOMO would drive masses of Germany players to buy accelerated research to get all 3 before the anniversary ends. Instead, the only hope of them coming back is in a purchasable pack, which would make them profit directly at least. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game company try so hard to avoid making easy money before.
I literally know people who played at that time and didn’t bother researching one or two of these 3 removed vehicles before the announcement was made that they’d be leaving the game. The whole community, even people who don’t play Germany, should want them back. Because if they get added back, then Gaijin would be infinitely more inclined to rework some of the less historical or unbalanced aspects of these vehicles, since there’d be many more people with access to them. Things like the Tiger II 10.5cm’s ammo storage and reload speed, or the Panther II’s turret size, all of these things people have rightfully pointed out are just small aspects that keep these vehicles from being more than suitable for the game’s climate. And the best part of all, they’re already in the game. It would take very minimal effort to re-add them. Like look, the Henschel Tiger just got a new model! That could surely be used on the 10.5cm as well.
